Weekly Newswatch – April 5, 2013

Legislative advisors and the Administration appeared before the Assembly Budget committee for FY2014 budget overview and revenue forecasts. Legislative advisors now expect revenues over the next three months to come in $302.4 million below Christie’s latest revised forecast. Both will appear again before the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees on Monday, May 20 and Tuesday, May 21 respectively to update committee on FY 2014 budget.

In election news, a total of 267 candidates filed petitions to run in the June 4 primary for the Republican and Democratic parties’ nominations for New Jersey state Senate and Assembly. All 120 legislative seats are up this year. Many incumbents will run unopposed.

In the state Senate races, only four Democratic incumbents face primary challenges. On the Republican side, primaries appear likely in six districts. Four of the districts are held by Democrats. In the Assembly races, the story is much the same, with primaries expected in only eight of the 40 districts — four for Democrats, four for Republicans.

Next Tuesday, The Assembly Budget Committee will hold a public hearing on education, higher education and local government in Newark.

Also on Thursday of next week, The Assembly Budget committee will hear from The Department of Education and the Department of Children and Families on the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget.

In other news, Governor Chris Christie along with legislative leadership and several legislators weighed in on the situation at Rutgers University, some calling for the firing of Rutgers Basketball Coach Mike Rice and AD Tim Pernetti in light of the videotaped evidence of Rice’s ongoing abusive behavior towards Rutgers’ student-athletes. Both Rice and Pernetti were fired this week.

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